Collective Consciousness: The Archaeology of Urbanization, Monumentalization, and Polis Formation in the Greek Apoikiai of Sicily from the Early Archaic to Early Classical Periods

Abstract

Urbanization in the Sikeliot apoikiai was the catalyst to the creation and reinforcement of polis identity from soon after the point of initial settlement onwards. A main priority of the Greek settlers was to first layout the foundations for an urban grid, and within this grid to designate space for ritual practice, later monumentalized during the Archaic and Classical periods following the growth of the polis. A diachronic and geographical survey of urbanization and of the religious architecture, art, and votives dating to the Archaic and Classical periods illustrates this; this survey centers around seven major Greek settlements in Sicily: Naxos, Megara Hyblaea, Syracuse, Himera, Gela, Akragas, and Selinus. While the process of urbanization also occurred on the Greek mainland, it was not prior to the phenomenon taking place in Sicily, rendering the Sikeliot poleis simply as imitations of mainland poleis as once argued; rather urbanization in Sicily occurred over a timeline parallel to that of the mainland. The development of Sikeliot trends and even prototypes in temple architecture and urban planning confirm this in the material evidence. There is also no evidence of the apoikiai in Sicily ever adopting poliadic deities, a traditional quality of polis identity within mainland poleis. Their polis identities were not rooted in the cult practice of poliadic deities, but in cult practice itself, which fostered a collective consciousness among polis inhabitants by virtue of shared ritual practice, reinforced by the monumentalization of religious space; cult practice is what affirmed and reaffirmed their polis identity.